A Baby SAT Test Bites the Dust

How would you like your kid to take a pre-pre-pre SAT test?

The College Board thought this would be a ducky idea.  So last fall the testing juggernaut announced that it was going to inflict a baby SAT on — get this — middle schoolers.

“This is not a pre-pre-pre SAT,” a College Board VP insisted at the time, but that, of course, is what it was.

The College Board insisted that the test would be a “diagnostic tool that would provide information about students’ strengths and weaknesses.” Gosh, isn’t that what the SAT does? And what about the PSAT, which high school kids take to get warmed up for the SAT?

Mercifully, the College Board has experienced second thoughts. It announced today that it was delaying the launch of the eighth-grader exam called ReadiStep. The College Board blamed the delay on the fiscal troubles of school districts, which would probably have been the ones paying for these tests.

I suspect that the College Board received so much flack about introducing yet another standardized test for kids, who are poked and prodded enough, that it halted the roll out.

If you’re wondering why the College Board is keen on attracting ever more test takers,  you’ll want to read this scathing article from Slate.

Learn more about college trends by reading my book, The College Solution, and visiting my other college blog at CBSMoneyWatch.com.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also write a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.com.